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Onno Poortier, President of The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts, has been honoured by The American Academy of Hospitality Services (AAHS) Five Star Diamond Award as “one of the finest corporate hoteliers worldwide”.
Joseph Cinque, President of The AAHS, commented: “The American Academy is renowned for awarding excellence in the global travel and luxury services sector. Each year, we acknowledge outstanding individuals for their unsurpassed commitment and disciplined foresight. The awards salute true quality and all its recipients receive global recognition for their contributions to the hospitality industry.”
A Dutch national, Onno Poortier is a stalwart hotelier with extensive international corporate business development, marketing and operational experience and will remain as President of The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts until January 2010.
Mr Poortier previously worked with The Peninsula Group where he was appointed Vice President in 1985 and President from 1992–2000. In this position he played a leading role in the group’s expansion into the USA and Asia Pacific with the acquisition and development of luxury Peninsula Hotels in New York, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Beijing and Bangkok, and initiated negotiations of the recently opened Peninsula Hotel Tokyo. In 2000 Mr Poortier formed Rembrandt Management Services Ltd to provide luxury hotel consultancy management services.
Mr Poortier has worked with numerous other organisations, including serving as Director to the Board of The Peninsula Group’s parent company, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Limited, from 1989–2000; as Director to the Board of Peninsula International Limited from 2000-2005; as Chairman of the Board of The Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St Moritz; on the Board of Fregate Island Private in the Seychelles; as Vice Chairman in Asia Pacific of Preferred Hotels and Resorts Worldwide; and as Board Director of Indecorp (now known as Preferred Hotel Group). This last role let to an interim CEO & President position in Chicago USA from 2003-2004. Mr Poortier is presently Board Director of Beau Rivage Palace Lausanne in Switzerland and Non-Executive Board Member of The Emaar Hospitality Group LLC in Dubai.
Mr Poortier has additionally won a number of industry awards, including being named “Corporate Hotelier of the World” by Hotels Magazine in 1994, and “Personality of the Year” by the hotel industry in 2996. He was voted “Foreign Hotel Person of the Year” in 1995 by Travel Agent Magazine, and previously won The AAHS Five Star Diamond award as “Outstanding Hotelier of the World” in 1998.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
